The Goldenrod built by William Markel first showed at Gallipolis, Ohio, both matinee and evening, during a fourth of July Celebration. This showboat was the biggest ever built and was constructed at Parkersburg, West Virginia. It was too much of a boat, and the owner with a heavy overhead, finally became financially embarrased. The Goldenrod was sold for debt. Captain Ralph Emerson Gaches, better known as Ralph Emerson, then became proprietor and manager of the Goldenrod. One writer dubbed him the \"Barnum of them all in the showboat business.\" He began his career as a packet clerk, and his show boat career with the late Captain E. B. Price. He first managed the showboat New Era, a small floating theater. Captain Price's first show boat was a big coal barge converted into a theater and with Mardi Gras paintings on the sides. He came from Cincinnati or Newport, Kentucky, a southern gentleman with large, black whiskers. The Reynolds showboat at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, is the last left on the Upper Ohio. The Bryant showboat is a yacht club at Huntington, West Virginia. The Goldenrod has been at St. Louis for several years where she has been successfully managed by the Menke Brothers, her present owners.
